Flexible mattress spring structure



Patented May 24, 1938 UNITED STATES John A. Douglas, Trenton, N. J.,assignor to Trenton Spring Products Company, Trenton,

N. 1., a corporation Application July 11, 1936, Serial No. 90,111

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a mattress structure and more especially theinner spring portion thereof.

The chief object of the invention is to provide in a mattress a springstructure which will hold the sides of the mattress straight and whichwill be relatively flexible and yet include therein a considerabledegree of rigidity, it being recognized that normally these two featuresare opposed to each other.

The chief feature of the invention consists in forming the springstructure, for inclusion in a mattress, of a plurality of springs of thetied or untied type and associating therewith border Wire means wherebythe sides of the mattress are held straight, the border Wire means beingarticulated thereby providing for flexibility in the mattress structure,the rigidity of the spring structure being obtained by reason of theborder wire arrangement.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

In the drawings, Fig. l is a top plan view of one embodiment of theinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof, the dotted lines therein indicating aflexed portion of the structure.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l. and of a more complicated form ofthe invention.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 and of the form of the inventionshown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of a connectic-n between adjacent coilsand an extension of the border wire.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 and of a still further modified formof the invention.

In the drawings it! indicates a plurality of double cone, coil springswhich have their opposite ends ll tied or knotted as at I2 to anadjacent turn i3. In knotting these ends, the immediate end I4 is turneddown toward the interior of the spring structure so that the barbed orsharp end of the spring wire would not ex- 45 tend into the covering andother material that surrounds the spring structure included within themattress.

Herein the border wire arrangement includes an end portion having twoside extensions 2i connected by a radius portion 22. Each side of themattress is similarly provided and each end of the mattress is similarlyprovided with the resulting U-shaped border wire member 20, 2| 22.

The two aligned end portions 2| terminate short of meeting engagementand interposed therebetween is a side border wire member also ofU-shaped form for the purpose hereinafter set forth, and including theside border portion 23 and the two ends 24. The portions 2! of each unitpreferably are of equal length and the two 5 extensions 2dof theU-shaped members 23-24 extend towards each other in alignment andterminate short of meeting engagement.

The springs are arranged in longitudinal and transverse rows. Encirclingthe entire border 10 wire portions 2 22, 2! and 23 is a helicalstructure and the same also encircles the end turn of the marginal coilsin the two longitudinal outside rows as at 3! and encircles the endturns of each of the coils of the two transverse end rows of coils as atE2 and the corner coil common to the marginal transverse andlongitudinal rows as at 33. The number of encircling engagements betweenthe helix 3t and the adjacent turn of the coils is determinable to alarge 20 extent by the diameter of the coil. As a general rule two tofour engagements are provided. By this arrangement, all of the marginalcoils are tied to the marginal border wire arrangements.

In view of the fact that the extensions 26 are 25 longitudinallypositioned with reference to the transverse rows of coils, the adjacentcoils in transverse rows have their upper turns connected together bythe helices it which terminate short of the border wire or helix 3?]connection. These 30 connections are indicated by the numerals t! andthe ends 42 in the present instance are not connected to the border wireor border wire encircling helix.

The extensions 24 terminate as at 25 and these are spaced apart, thecenter to center spacing, approximately between adjacent coils in atransverse row in the present instance. The helix 45 terminates short ofborder wire or border wire helix engagement as at 46 and simultaneouslyencircles as at d? by a plurality of turns two adjacent coils it and theextension 26.

Each end 59 of border wire side portion 2! encircles the connectionbetween extension 24 and border wire 23 and herein the same isillustrated as of elongated character. The loop 59 thus formed is tiedas at 5! to the main portion 2| of the border wire. An eye portion maybe employed in place of the loop. However, an eye portion does notprovide the accommodation in- 50 dicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2but necessitates the inward bending of the frame and springs when one ofthe end sections is bent out of the plane of the middle section.

It will be apparent from an inspection of Figs.

1 and 2 that the border wires 2 will bend slightly at their midportionsso that the mattress may be partly folded so the housewife can readilyhandle the same. Also, the mattress may be folded in a transversedirection and to a greater extent than in the longitudinal direction byreason of the jointed. connections of the end sections to themid-section. The sectionalized border wire arrangement permits of thisarticulation and also insures that the sides of the mattress are heldstraight and the edges are relatively rigid, yet by reason of theconstruction employed, there is not only provided flexibility generallyregarding various portions of the mattress but localized flexibility asWell so that the mattress will accommodate itself to the persons bodythereon.

In Figs. 3, i and is illustrated a modified form of the invention,wherein certain adjacent portions are arranged in a sinuous manner for abetter interlocking arrangement without destruction or reduction of thehinging character embodied in that type of connection. numerals of theone hundred series indicate like or similar parts. The differences willbe briefly set out as follows: a

In this form of the invention, the coils H are of untied character andthe ends i M. are pro vided with a sinuous arrangement H2. The adjacentcoil approximately diametrically opposite its end 9M, is provided with asimilar serpentine type portion i 52a and the two portions intert andare encircled by the helix Hill as at Ml and by a plurality of turns ofsaid helix. In this form of the invention also-see Fig. 5-the extension!24 of the U-shaped border wire H3 is provided with a sinuous portion l2ia and this is included between the two sinuous portions I I2 and 5 Hatand the helix encircles the three interfitting portions.

The longitudinal marginal coils MD are provided with a third andintermediate sinuous portion H21) and the border wire portions l2! and:23 at Nita and 523a, respectively, are provided with these sinuousportions that interfit with the adjacent sinuous or serpentine portionof the adjacent coil and the helix i3! encircles the same. Similarly,the border wire portion 52!] includes the sinuous portions lZiia. andthe coils i adjacent thereto are provided with the sinuous portions Haand the helix E32 encircles same when interfittingly associatedtogether. It will be apparent in this form of the invention, the coilsare of untied character.

In Fig. 6 there is illustrated a further and more complicated form ofthe invention wherein each coil Eli.- has a sinuous or serpentineportion in the turn immediately adjacent the end turn and end of thecoil and the helix simultaneously Similar encircles the adjacent sinuousportions of the same coil. In this form of the invention, there are twoadjacent serpentine portions per coil, making three or four to the twoadjacent coils and when the extension 22 3 is associated therewith, thisalso is provided with a sinuous portion making four or five interfittingsinuous portions encircled by the helix. In this form of the invention,similar numerals of the two hundred series indicate similar or likeparts, the additional sinuous portion in the second turn being indicatedby numeral 269 and registering with the serpentine end.

While the invention has been described in great detail in the foregoingspecification, and similarly illustrated in the drawings, the aforesaidis to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character.Various modifications have been thus disclosed as well as suggestedhereinbefore and these, together with others which will readily suggestthemselves to persons skilled in this art, are all considered to bewithin the scope of this invention, reference being had to theappended'claims.

The invention claimed is:-

1. A unitary articulated spring structure for incorporation in amattress, having substantially semi-rigid parallel top and bottom framesand a plurality of parallel coil springs constituting the sole spacingmeans therebetween, the coils being arranged in rows, each frame beingidentical to and in substantial registration with the other, each frameincluding two U-shaped semirigid border wire members forming end bordersand the arm portions thereof forming side border portions, the arms ofeach end member being directed toward the arms of the other member, andtwo intermediate U-shaped semi-rigid border wire members having similarrelationship therebetween and with the midportions completing the framesides and in alignment with the aligned arm portions of the end members,a loose hinge type connection between the ends of the aligned armportions of the end members and the intermediate member substantially atthe ends of the midportion thereof, the arms of said intermediatemembers being directed towards each other and aligned and terminatingadjacent each other and remote from the midportions of said intermediatemembers, flexible helix means connecting all marginal coils to theimmediate adjacent border forming portions of the wire frames, andflexible helix means connecting the end turns of adjacent coils inadjacent rows.

2. A device as defined by claim 1, characterized by the loose pivotalconnections each being of elongated loop character.

7 JOHN A. DOUGLAS.

